Acting as middlemen or bridges, medical sales representatives eliminate the communication gap between medical suppliers and healthcare professionals.
However, this critical role can negatively impact any medical supplier’s sales performance if their representatives do not use proper lingo common to the industry. A crucial part of every medical sales training is learning correct terminology.
Even seasoned reps should keep their knowledge up to date since the healthcare industry is constantly evolving.
A recent study from Markets and Markets revealed that the global market size of the Internet of Things (IoT) would grow from $72.5 billion in 2020 to $188.2 billion by 2025. And with a CAGR or Compound Annual Growth Rate of 21%, expect to see an emergence of new medical terminologies.
Your sales rep’s understanding of new healthcare jargon exhibits credibility to customers, helping establish your company as an authority in the field.
Terminologies Important to Medical Sales Training
Every salesperson needs to have strong negotiation and presentation skills to increase their chances of closing a sale. An excellent communication skill – using proper terminologies – is what binds these two abilities together. Even if you’re running a healthcare content marketing campaign, you should know what terms to use to connect with your audience.
What separates a medical sales rep from a regular salesperson is their industry knowledge, which includes terms specific to healthcare. Here are some terminologies that every salesperson should understand to sell better in this industry:
1. Bundled Payments
With the shift to value-based care, fee-for-service (FFS) payment models are becoming obsolete. Bundled payments make settlements to providers and healthcare facilities easier for patients. Organizations and individual practitioners now have greater accountability for both clinical and cost outcomes.
Bundled payments are single fixed payments that healthcare facilities charge patients or insurers. It is the overall price for the services provided, including treatments and diagnosis over an episode of care. An “episode of care” indicates the care delivered within a definite period or for a specific condition. For instance, a provider receives one payment for the entire knee replacement episode of care.
2. Population Health Management
Population health management is another result of the value-based care model. It’s a holistic approach to improving the health of a group of individuals based on a specific demographic. Some groupings include people with a predetermined health system, individuals sharing the same geographic area, or people with a particular disease.
Information gathered from population health management can help identify patient care gaps in specific areas. Its value to medical sales reps and suppliers lies in proactively allocating medical equipment that providers will recommend to their patients.
3. Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics enables healthcare providers to be prospective instead of retrospective when approaching a patient’s health. It helps optimize outcomes based on recommendations of the best course of action using multiple “what-if” scenarios.
By helping identify which of their patients are at risk, hospitals can proactively use resources such as medical equipment or medication delivery. Predictive analytics can also enhance hospital operations with better equipment provision.
4. Medical Device Connectivity
Responsible for transferring data between medical devices, medical device connectivity helps eliminate the need for manual data. As a result, providers can give a better and up-to-date diagnosis because of the frequency of data updates from a patient monitor.
Connectivity may be either wired or wireless. The latter provides uninterrupted data transfer even when the patient is in transit. A wired setup, on the other hand, is more stable and is best for static environments.
5. Digital Health
Any usage of digital technologies to improve the physical and psychological well-being of populations can mean digital health. It also refers to any enhancements to the quality and outcome of healthcare using the same advancements. Digital health can also improve computational technologies and smart devices to help healthcare professionals manage their patient’s conditions better.
Wearable tracking devices are an excellent example of how healthcare providers use digital health to monitor sleep patterns or calorie consumption. Furthermore, about 45% of Americans today have experience using digital health products such as fitness trackers and mobile health apps.
6. Micro-Hospital
Small inpatient facilities that usually have eight to 15 beds for observation or short-term use are micro-hospitals. They operate 24/7 and provide emergency care together with laboratory and pharmacy services.
Compared to freestanding emergency departments (EDs), micro-hospitals leave smaller financial footprints. This type of facility provides healthcare services to areas where locals do not need full-scale hospitals. As such, micro-hospitals are usually within 18 to 20 miles of a major hospital.
7. Medical Robots
Medical robots have various uses in the healthcare industry. They are instrumental in surgery, telemedicine, sanitation, and transportation of lab specimens. The growing reliance on surgical robots helps cut down the waiting list for surgeries. Surgeons are still 100% in control of the robot, but the machine’s precision helps reduce the operation time significantly.
8. 3D Printing
Consumer products are not the only ones that benefit from 3D printing. The most widespread use of 3D printing in healthcare today is with the on-demand fabrication of medical devices.
The benefits of using this technology include personalized and customized treatment to patients and consistent availability of medical devices and supplies. A healthcare 3D printer can have various uses such as:
- Developing models for surgical planning
- Creating anatomical models for education and training purposes
- Creating custom prosthetics, implants, or surgical instruments
- Manufacturing anatomical models for use in pre-clinical validation and verification
3D printing reduces the time and expenses spent in the operating room since physicians can prepare better for surgeries. For instance, a printed bone replica that matches the patient’s bone structure can dramatically reduce surgery time. It can also reduce recovery time, leading to lower medical bills.
9. Telemedicine
Telemedicine helps remove restrictions on location, helping health providers to render better patient care even if they are not on-site. Doctors use it to conduct medical treatments and consultations remotely. Through the use of the internet, satellite, or telephone, telemedicine can provide medical assistance almost the same way as on-site care.
Improve Your Medical Sales Performance with the Right Words
Rapid technology advancements in the healthcare industry are causing the emergence of new terms. Successful medical sales reps are those who are always in the know about the latest trends. By bringing themselves up to speed on new vocabularies, they can connect with their clients better and provide relevant recommendations.
Marketing in the healthcare industry is not just about terminologies. Contact us, and we’ll boost your medical supply business.